Bing Ads

Bing Ads has announced the rollout of an automated bid strategy aimed at maximizing the number of clicks advertisers can receive within their budgets.
In August 2016, Bing Ads added the Enhanced CPC bid strategy, which automatically adjusts bids up or down based on the determined likelihood that a click will convert.
At the campaign level, the option to Maximize Clicks can be selected under the “Bid Strategy type” drop-down shown below or in campaign Settings.
In Settings, advertisers can set a max bid ceiling that will apply to all bids in the campaign.
Advertisers can also selectively maintain manual bid controls for certain ad groups and/or keywords in a campaign set to Maximize Clicks. At the ad group or keyword level, choose “Use My Bid” from the Bid Strategy drop-down menu:
When Maximize Clicks is applied, the bid column will note “auto” before the bid amount.
Bing Ads recommends letting the Maximize Clicks strategy run for at least 30 … [Read more...] about Bing Ads launches automated bid strategy to ‘Maximize Clicks’

Bing Ads announced on Thursday some new features in Editor related to ad extension management.
These new features are now available for the Windows version of Bing Ads Editor, and they will soon be available for the Mac version.
Advertisers can control when their ad extensions are shown in Editor, including by date, day of the week and time of day. There’s also support for times to be based on either the advertiser’s time zone or the searcher’s time zone.
These scheduling options allow advertisers to run ad extensions only during appropriate times and help enhance relevance. For example, a restaurant may want to have callout extensions enabled for the morning to highlight breakfast items, and then schedule them to turn off when breakfast stops serving and turn on callouts for dinner promotion.
The new scheduling options displayed when extensions are highlighted in Editor:
Clicking Edit in the Ad Schedule section of the editing pane brings up a scheduling … [Read more...] about Bing Ads announces new Editor features for ad extensions

On the cusp of the latest iPhone release, columnist Purna Virji from Bing offers insights to help advertisers cash in on new device launches.
We’ve all seen the news headlines. They queue, they camp, they chant. And sometimes, they even stampede. Just to get their hands on a new device.
And while these are the more extreme cases, it’s clear that consumers love technology, ready to cast off last year’s phone for one with a better battery, more pixels, and a blush-gold case.
But of course, the decision journey begins long before launch day, creating a significant opportunity for retail advertisers – as long as you get in on the action at the right time.
What makes this new device season even more interesting is the rise in opportunity for brands outside of Apple.
iPhone users are becoming less loyal to Apple over time, according to research by UBS analysts Steven Milunovich and Benjamin Wilson.
This chart is particularly surprising because it shows that … [Read more...] about How advertisers can score big on the next device launch

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google My Business now lets businesses edit their listings directly in search resultsSep 6, 2017 by Barry Schwartz
After months and months of testing, Google is rolling out inline editing in search for local businesses.
Google officially adds AMP based featured snippets to mobile search resultsSep 5, 2017 by Barry Schwartz
Now AMP pages can rank in Google’s position zero but Google says AMP is still not a ranking factor.
Top European court’s ruling might embolden US tech companies to challenge regulatorsSep 6, 2017 by Greg Sterling
The European Court of Justice rebuked a lower court for failing to properly consider Intel’s arguments in a nearly decade-old case.
Google Analytics adds feature to unify users to Google AMP Cache pages & non-AMP pagesSep 6, 2017 by Ginny Marvin
The AMP Client ID API requires a simple code change to unify users who visit … [Read more...] about SearchCap: Google local business edits, AMP powered featured snippets & Bing Ads bid adjustments

In last month’s column, I talked about taking advantage of the summer months to optimize your SEM account. Using the summer slowdown (if it exists for you!) to examine your settings, review your ads and take a closer look at location options won’t transform your PPC account, but these small actions can add up to significant improvements.
Sadly, summer is almost over (sniff, sniff), but you can still make the most of any lull in business to conduct the same kind of optimization process with your Google Display Network (GDN) accounts.
So when you find yourself with a moment to catch your breath, here are five GDN hidden gems worth looking into:
When you originally set up your display remarketing, did you set it up in AdWords or Google Analytics? If you set things up exclusively in AdWords, this might be a good time to switch to Google Analytics or (at a minimum) add in Google Analytics audiences.
Two reasons justify the change:
(a) If your remarketing code gets stripped, … [Read more...] about Optimize your GDN accounts with more hidden gems